Study on the effect of human sympathetic nerve cold stimulation to relieve driving fatigue based on order recurrence plot.

Driving fatigue is very likely to cause traffic accidents, seriously threatening the lives and properties of drivers. Therefore, accurate detection and effective mitigation of driving fatigue are crucial for ensuring the personal safety of drivers. This study proposes a method to relieve driving fatigue by properly reducing the temperature to stimulate the human sympathetic nerve. The method uses the intelligent cooling and blowing device on the car seat cushion to achieve cold stimulation of the sympathetic nerve of the driver by reducing the temperature of the driver's hip, back and neck, so as to increase the excitement of the sympathetic nerve, keep the driver alert and achieve the purpose of fighting driving fatigue. In view of the fact that the traditional fatigue detection method is easily affected by environmental factors and individual differences, this study uses the order recurrence plot (ORP) method to detect driving fatigue based on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The results show that ORP textures drawn by EEG signals of the two driving conditions (normal driving condition and sensory cold stimulation driving condition) are significantly different, and the quantization parameters determinism (DET) and average diagonal line length (DLL) values are significantly different. Cold stimulation of the subjects' hips, back and neck to alleviate driving fatigue was the best when the temperature was 21 °C. In addition, compared with the traditional methods of fatigue relief, the sensory cold stimulation method proposed in this study does not easily to produce tolerance and has no damage to the body.

A transcutaneous acupoint electrical simulation glove for relieving the mental fatigue of crane drivers in real building environment.

In the field of construction, the lifting environment of precast parts is more complex, which leads to the driver's fatigue. When the tower crane driver appears driving fatigue, it will appear slow operation response, hoisting precast parts appear abnormal swing, which will endanger the safety of on-site operators. Therefore, this study developed a kind of transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation gloves. When the crane driver wears this kind of glove, the good contraction of the glove can make the stimulation electrode closely fit with the three points, so as to perform electrical stimulation on the Neìguan point (PC6), Láogóng point (PC8) and Hégu point (L14) of the palm to relieve the driver's driving fatigue. In this study, non-periodic transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (NPTAES) was used to stimulate human acupuncture points. This is different from the traditional periodic transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (PTAES) method for relieving mental fatigue. In addition, this study used hilbert marginal spectral entropy (HMSE) to calculate the heart rate variability (HRV) characteristics of the subjects, so as to detect and analyze the driving fatigue of the drivers. At the same time, the drivers' blinking frequency and electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics were analyzed comprehensively. The results show that: The NPTAES method used in this study is superior to the PTAES method in alleviating driving fatigue and greatly improves the efficiency of tower crane drivers. Compared to other methods, the HMSE method proposed in this study, when analyzing signals, stronger ability to characterize signal characteristics.

Real driving environment EEG-based detection of driving fatigue using the wavelet scattering network.

BACKGROUND: Driving fatigue is one of the main factors leading to traffic accidents. So, it is necessary to detect driver fatigue accurately and quickly. NEW METHOD: To precisely detect driving fatigue in a real driving environment, this paper adopts a classification method for driving fatigue based on the wavelet scattering network (WSN). Firstly, electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of 12 subjects in the real driving environment are collected and categorized into two states: fatigue and awake. Secondly, the WSN algorithm extracts wavelet scattering coefficients of EEG signals, and these coefficients are used as input in support vector machine (SVM) as feature vectors for classification. RESULTS: The results showed that the average classification accuracy of 12 subjects reached 99.33%; the average precision rate reached 99.28%; the average recall rate reached 98.27%; the average F1 score reached 98.74%; and the average classification accuracy of the public data set SEED-VIG reached 99.39%. The average precision, recall rate and F1 score reached 99.27%, 98.41% and 98.83% respectively. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: In addition, the WSN algorithm is compared with traditional convolutional neural network (CNN), Sparse-deep belief networks (SDBN), Spatio-temporal convolutional neural networks (STCNN), Long short-term memory (LSTM), and other methods, and it is found that WSN has higher classification accuracy. CONCLUSION: Furthermore, this method has good versatility, providing excellent recognition effect on small sample data sets, and fast running time, making it convenient for real-time online monitoring of driver fatigue. Therefore, the WSN algorithm is promising in efficiently detecting driving fatigue state of drivers in real environments, contributing to improved traffic safety.

Evaluating the Correlation of Hedgehog Pathway with Claudin-1 Expression in Invasive Breast Cancer.

Being a heterogeneous disease, breast cancer illustrates different biological and phenotypic features which make its diagnosis and treatment challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of crucial components of the Hedgehog signaling pathway, the correlation between the signal transducer Smo, and clinicopathologic features (lymph node metastasis and metastasis stage) in invasive breast carcinoma. Besides, the inverse correlation was considered between expression levels of Smo and Claudin-1. For this purpose, in a case-control study, we evaluated 72 tumor and adjacent normal tissue specimens obtained from invasive ductal breast cancer patients. The expression levels of Hedgehog signaling components (Smo, Gli1, and Ptch), Claudin-1, E-cadherin, and MMP2 were measured by qRT-PCR. The correlations between Smo expressions with some clinicopathologic parameters were also analyzed. Compared to normal adjacent tissues, the results showed up-regulation of Hedgehog signaling in invasive breast carcinoma samples. Upregulation of the signal transducer Smo correlated with tumor stages and lymph node metastasis of the breast tumors. This correlation was affected by the expression of Her2. A significant correlation existed between expression levels of the signal transducer Smo and Claudin-1, E-cadherin as an epithelial cell marker, and MMP2 as a metastasis-related gene in advanced metastatic tumor samples. Based on the obtained results, a new layer of molecular complexity was found, which should be considered in managing patients with invasive breast carcinoma. The results suggested a key role for Hedgehog signaling in invasive breast carcinoma. In terms of the inverse correlation between expression levels of Claudin-1 and Hedgehog signaling, Claudin-1 could serve as a candidate gene in diagnostic studies. Thus, its clinical significance should be further clarified.

Obstetric anesthesia clinic childbirth course combined with labor epidural analgesia is associated with a decreased risk of postpartum depression : a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious complication commonly seen in postnatal women. In this paper, an investigation was conducted to see if obstetric anesthesia clinic childbirth course combined with labor epidural analgesia (LEA) was associated with a decreased risk of PPD. METHODS: Six hundred fifty-five nulliparous women were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. The parturients were divided into 4 groups, with Group C being the control group, Group AC received the obstetric anesthesia clinic childbirth course only, Group LEA received LEA only, and Group AC + LEA received both the obstetric anesthesia clinic childbirth course and LEA. Maternal and neonatal variables in the perinatal period were recorded. PPD at 6 weeks was assessed using the Chinese version of the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS), where a score ≥ 10 is the threshold for PPD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between obstetric anesthesia clinic childbirth course combined with LEA and postpartum depression. RESULTS: A total of 124 maternities had EPDS ≥10 points, the incidence of PPD was 18.9%。The incidence of PPD and EPDS scores were significantly lower in Group AC + LEA than in Group C (12.1% vs 26.8%, P <  0.05; 6 (5, 7) vs 7 (5, 11), P <  0.05). Received an anesthesia clinic childbirth course combined with LEA was associated with a decreased risk of PPD (OR 0.273, 95% CI, 0.100-0.743, P = 0.013). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified 5 other independent factors for PPD, including maternal SAS score in the delivery room, W-DEQ score in the delivery room, living in a confinement center, EPDS score at 1st week postpartum and perinatal care satisfaction . CONCLUSIONS: Received an obstetrics anesthesia clinic childbirth course combined with LEA for nulliparous women with a single term cephalic pregnancy was associated with a decreased risk of PPD at 6 weeks. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2000039163. Registered on 20/10/2020.

CircPTPRM accelerates malignancy of papillary thyroid cancer via miR-885-5p/DNMT3A axis.

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are implicated in carcinogenesis, including papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Despite of previous reports regarding the high expression of circPTPRM in PTC, the role and regulatory mechanism remain to be investigated. METHODS: CircPTPRM and miR-885-5p expression were examined, and the effects on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were also measured. Immunoblotting was performed to evaluate DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A) and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated proteins. RESULTS: CircPTPRM was overexpressed in PTC tissues and cell lines, which predicted poor prognosis. CircPTPRM inhibition significantly alleviated the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities. It was subsequently confirmed that circPTPRM competed with miR-885-5p for DNMT3A binding. CircPTPRM promoted PTC progression via miR-885-5p/DNMT3A signal axis. CONCLUSION: Our data elucidated that circPTPRM may play an oncogenic role in PTC through circPTPRM/miR-885-5p/DNMT3A axis.

Association between the APC gene D1822V variant and the genetic susceptibility of colorectal cancer.

Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene polymorphisms are believed to contribute to tumor susceptibility. However, the association between genetic variants (A/T) in the APC gene D1822V polymorphism and colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility remains unknown. To determine this association, a case-control study was performed. The genotype of the APC gene D1822V variants was analyzed by DNA sequencing in blood samples collected from 196 patients with CRC and 279 healthy subjects. There were no significant associations between the case and control groups in the distribution of AT [odds ratio (OR), 0.604; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.355-1.029) and TT genotypes (OR, 0.438; 95% CI, 0.045-4.247) relative to the AA genotype. The ratio of the T allele was significantly lower (P=0.047) in the case group compared with the control group (OR, 0.611; 95% CI, 0.374-0.997), indicating that the T allele conferred a protective effect in CRC. The frequency of the AT genotype among the subjects diagnosed at >45 years of age was lower than those diagnosed at a younger age (P<0.05). The present study demonstrates that the T allele of the D1822V polymorphism may exert a protective effect against CRC, however, these findings require further validation in a larger sample size.